Would like to see my fellow freedom fighters keep their heads above water and get out of the cities. That’d be a good start. Some keys for self-reliance are in this article. Most people don’t need a big house and you’d be surprised at what you can do on just a few acres. Let the system crash. Let the lights go out. Providing for yourself and family can be fulfilling on a good day. Get back to nature and fuck the technophiles.
Unless of course you’re a “technophile”/monkey- wrench-in-the-cogs- of-the-system. Hat’s off to you if you are.
Good Magazines: Mother Earth News
Countyside
Grit
Self-Reliance
Backwoods Home
Samm

When 43% of Americans Can’t Pay for Food and Rent, Economic Collapse is Here

If that were true and the study cited is true then the economy collapsed two years ago and nobody seemed to notice.

The press release for this study (the full study has not yet been released) states “The Project compares 2016 household costs versus incomes.” These studies take time to do. I understand that. The fact that this isn’t ‘up-to-the-second’ data is not my point as such data is clearly impossible to gather, much less analyze.

My point is, how did these 43% of Americans manage to survive for the last two years? Did I miss the news reports about 140 million Americans starving to death? Or about more than 100 million Americans suddenly becoming homeless? Because If I didn’t then regardless of the accuracy of the ALICE numbers, their situations clearly aren’t as dire as the quoted stat suggests.

I think the bad part is that the system has the majority of people in this land dependent on it. Most don’t even realize it.
So they’ve genetically modified animals such as pigs to be “OK” with shitty feed, cramped living conditions, and to behave in mellow ways so they’re led to slaughter easier. In other words the commercial pigs are OK with their poor lives because the “good life” that a non-fucked-with pig would enjoy is being erased from the natural desires and emotions of said pig. (thank goodness for science and technology)
I don’t think that realizing how good or how bad we have it “economically” is that important.
I think we should realize what technology is erasing from our brains that we really need to thrive and be happier.
Samm

But it’s not just click-bait in the traditional “media” sense. Having looked over their previous study (when it was 37% of households) I’m sure the new study supports the hyperbole. According to their numbers, 43% of American households can’t pay for both food and rent.

The immediate problem is that they’re simply looking at aggregate numbers - households “need” $x according to community expense averages, while community average incomes are $x-$y. They’re focusing on the statistics and ignoring the real world data of the individuals represented by the data. The very definition of an “ivory tower”.

The bigger problem, however, is that studies like these are used to create “public policy” and reinforce the desire for government. Afterall, if 43% of America is starving that’s clearly too large a problem for individuals to solve on their own.

What those who support freedom need is for the focus to shift from the collective (43% of American households) to the individual (the struggling family down the street). Individuals and small communities are fully equipped to help a struggling family through voluntary means. And, it is only through a series of these smaller actions that the larger issue can be resolved.

The fact that humans have, apparently, always felt they didn’t have “enough” is the evidence that it’s a human “problem” and not a result of marketing, society or technology.

By blaming outside forces for our problems we place the responsibility for a solution on outside forces as well. Only by accepting that the problems are our own individual responsibility can we find true solutions, as those solutions reside solely within our individual selves as well.

I’m sorry you got that impression, as my belief is quite the opposite. Allow me to recap-

You said: “But it does seem like there are a lot of people just getting by. It’s not that they don’t have any money, but they don’t have “extra” money. And when they do have extra, they spend it.”

I blamed the problem that you correctly stated “a lot of people” have with money on human nature while you blamed it on marketing and then society. Which is why I asked for an example of a group of people, aka a society, that did not exhibit this problem on a wide scale. Hoping for an example that predated “marketing” in order to support your claim. No examples were forthcoming.

Hence, logic tells me that this is a long-standing situation, thus a part of human nature, or “the distinguishing characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—which humans tend to have naturally.” Just because something is human nature does not mean it applies to “all of humanity” or exists in every individual, just that it tends to naturally occur.

blackie:

Recognizing the source of a problem does not assign responsibility for a solution.

It does not do so on its own, no. But the vast majority of people do tend to place responsibility for solutions on the creator of the problem.

Regardless of the poorly qualified wording in that first sentence, the second sentence is the most important one for both personal and societal growth: “Only by accepting that the problems are our own individual responsibility can we find true solutions, as those solutions reside solely within our individual selves as well.”

Is there a historical example of a society that lived in surplus without consistently seeking more resources?

I think FATTIES are a result of the problem.
Have you seen the ones at the ice cream stands? Or at the donut shops ?
Look at some history books with actual photos from when cameras first came out. More producers. More Independence. Less of technologically “advanced” society. Now, way too many fatties.
Hope the ice cream stands have a surplus.
Samm